This is my first attempt making farmer's cheese from scratch. Since it is a trial run, I am only using a quart of whole milk rather than a gallon. Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftover whey. The next time you look at mozzarella cheese prices at the grocery store, it takes a gallon of milk to make one pound. A quart of milk makes roughly 6 oz of cheese. If only the dairy farm near my neighborhood sold direct to consumers, then I could really call it a farm-to-table recipe. Who knows where Trader Joe's gets its milk. When I buy that organic stuff from Fred Meyers, it trucks in from half way across the country. At least the herbs came from the garden.
Ingredients
1 quart whole milk
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice (used two medium lemons)
kosher salt (to taste)
1/4 tsp each fresh herbs, finely minced (used thyme, chives, and garlic)
Directions
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat milk over low-medium until the liquid temperature is 180 degrees F.
2. Stir in lemon juice and wait for curds to form.
3. Ladle curds into a cheesecloth
-lined sieve and let drain over a bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours. You can also gather the edges of the cheesecloth and tie it with butchers twine
at the top.
4. Once all the whey has been drained, transfer cheese to a small bowl and mix in salt and fresh herbs. Store cheese in a sealable container in the refrigerator for another 2-3 hours before serving.
This recipe uses Alton Brown's method of making brown rice, except I cook for one and this is too much rice for me to eat, even for a couple days. Only white rice has a 1:1 ratio with water. Brown rice has more substance to it and requires a bit more water.
Basic recipe
1 c. brown rice (long grain like basmati, or short grain)
1 1/2 c. water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of saffron (optional)
pinch of salt
1. In a small saucepan, boil water, butter, and saffron (optional) together.
2. In an 8" x 8" baking pan (preferably glass), add rice pour water-butter liquid over it. Cover with a heat-proof lid or with aluminum foil.
No need to preheat the oven. You can put this into the oven as it heats up, just set the timer for 10 minutes longer, depending on how fast the oven comes up to temperature.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F for an hour.
Tomato curry rice
Instead of using water/butter/saffron as the liquid, use an equal amount of the sauce from the tomato curry chicken recipe, up to 2 cups of liquid for half a cup of brown basmati rice (long grain).
This dish tastes a lot like a rice pilaf or a rice dish that you'd find at an Indian restaurant. I'm sure someone has given this rice cooking method a name.
This is basically two dishes mixed together. This is tomato soup plus an already baked sweet potato that was diced, and a batch of curry chicken. The curry chicken is a family recipe.
Curry Chicken
4 tsp mild curry powder + 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 chili pepper, seeds removed and chopped (optional, if you like it spicy)
about 1 lb chicken parts, such as drumsticks
Directions
1. In a small prep bowl, combine curry powder and water to form a paste.
2. In a kettle, bring several cups of water to a boil. Set aside.
3. In a 2-quart pan (with a lid), heat olive oil until it spreads easily across the pan. Add the curry paste and stir until the oil is fragrant with the smell of curry. Quickly add the chicken and brown the sides of the chicken.
4. Add soy sauce and chili pepper. Then fill the pan with boiling water until the chicken is submerged.
5. Cover the pan with its lid and cook the chicken over low-medium heat for 45 minutes. If you were using a glass, enamel, or stainless steel pan, you could also bake this covered in the oven at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Tomato curry chicken
One batch of curry chicken, cooked
One batch of tomato soup
One baked sweet potato, diced (optional)
In the same pan that has the chicken, add the tomato soup and diced sweet potato. Cook until the liquid has reduced somewhat. Serve over rice.
For this weekend's Green Themed potluck, I made a vegetarian filling for the Asian lettuce wraps. I was rather surprised that hardly anyone touched the meat filling that I also prepared for this dish. The lime juice didn't stand out on its own in the sauce base against the stronger flavors of garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. This could also be served by itself as a salad. I had leftover chestnuts from when I made the zongzi, so these also went into the dish.
For the wraps: use washed/patted dry individual leaves of butter lettuce or romaine lettuce
Ingredients
1/4 c. roasted chestnuts, diced
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
4 stalks green onion, thinly sliced
2 c. bean sprouts
red, yellow, orange bell peppers, thinly sliced
extra firm tofu, cut into small cubes or thin slices
6. fresh basil leaves, julienned
Marinade/Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1 red chili pepper, de-seeded and chopped (optional)
2 tbsp lime juice (1 lime)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1. In a large bowl, combine vegetables, tofu, and chestnuts.
2. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium, then add ginger, garlic, chili pepper until the oil is fragrant and the garlic is lightly browned. Add soy sauce and lime juice. Stir to combine. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Toss marinade and vegetables together.
Region: Portland, SW Washington
Surprisingly, while hunting big game is more common in both Oregon and Washington state (compared to my original stomping grounds, California), retail game meat / butcher shops are not easy to find. By common, I mean to suggest that one in every ten co-workers you come across knows at least one or more people who avidly hunts for the kitchen freezer and/or dinner table.
I'm talking meaty items for carnivores like wild pheasant, duck, goose, rabbit, elk, deer, and the not-so-wild-farm-raised lamb and buffalo. For any retail butcher shop to offer wild game meat, the meat has to be processed so that it meets USDA regulations. This adds some cost to the cuts but it's a lot better than slaying and hacking up an animal yourself in its native territory. Nearly all the standalone butcher shops I've come across in this region are family owned and operated. Buying direct from a butcher shop also gives you access to regionally-raised meats. It brings a whole new facet to buying local.
Game or specialty meats are those that you just can't run to a Fred Meyers to pick up from the deli case or butcher's counter. You can always find free range/naturally-raised ducks, turkeys, buffalo and lamb meat from Whole Foods or New Seasons.
I visited Chuck's Produce for the first time. If you haven't seen their weekly ad, it probably means you haven't been reading The Columbian. But, at least the specials are listed on their website now. Their meat aisle and butcher counter had an interesting assortment of unusual meats such as ground emu and frog legs. The store leans more towards locally farmed and raised meats, produce, and dairy.
These places are ones that I know of, have been recommended to me by other PDX foodies, or have visited on occassion:
[ SW Washington ]
Top Choice Meats
http://topchoicemeatmarket.com/
12313 Ne 4th Plain Rd
Vancouver, WA 98682
(360)896-8865
Meats: Beef, Pork, Sausages, Chicken, Buffalo, Elk, Free Range Turkey (seasonal)
Chuck's Produce
http://chucksproduce.com/
13215 Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard
Vancouver, WA 98684
(360) 597-2700
Meats: Beef/Pork/Chicken, Emu, Frog, Pheasant, Buffalo, Duck, Squab, Game hens, etc
[ Portland ]
Nicky USA
http://www.nickyusa.com
223 SE 3rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 234-4263
Meats: comprehensive (click for list)
Retail to the public: Yes, but call ahead or order online
SP Provisions
http://www.spprovisions.com
2331 NW 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97210
(503) 234-0579
Meats: Beef, Lamb, Veal, Pork, Poultry (Chicken, Turkey, specialty), Seafood, Sausages
Game Meats: venison, rabbit, quail, duck, elk, buffalo, wild boar, pheasant, ...
Retail to the public: Yes, but call ahead one week in advance for availability
Ordinary butcher shops until someone informs me otherwise:
Butcher Boys
4710 E Fourth Plain Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98661-4646
(360) 693-6241
Gartner's Country Meat Market
http://www.gartnersmeats.com
7450 N.E. Killingsworth
Portland, OR. 97218
(503) 252-7801
Meats: Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Cornish Game Hens, Sausages
Specialty services: custom cutting and game processing
Other resources:
Eat Wild - Washington, Oregon
Reister Farms (Washougal, WA) - lamb meat; usually at Vancouver Farmers Market
[Updated: 2011-09-08]
